At least one officer investigating the Aurora movie theater shooting might have lied under oath during a hearing about a crucial piece of evidence, but a special prosecutor is not needed to investigate the matter, a judge ruled Thursday.

Instead, Arapahoe County District Judge Carlos Samour said defense attorneys will be allowed at trial to cross-examine the detectives about their earlier testimony to raise questions about credibility.

“If the record before the Court is complete, it reflects that at least one law enforcement agent was untruthful at one of the hearings,” Samour wrote in the order.

The hearings concerned a notebook James Holmes mailed to his psychiatrist. It subsequently became the subject of a Fox News story by reporter Jana Winter containing details about the notebook cited to unnamed law enforcement sources.

Arguing the report was a violation of the case’s gag order, defense attorneys pursued hearings at which 14 law enforcement officers testified about their contact with the notebook. None of the officers said they spoke to the media about the notebook or told anyone else in detail about what they may have seen inside. The defense has never said whether the story — which reported the notebook contained violent drawings and plans — is accurate.

But Samour’s order indicates that it is.

“The Court finds that the most reasonable inference drawn from the record is Winter obtained the information in her report from sources who had direct or indirect knowledge of the contents of the notebook,” Samour wrote.

Because defense attorneys cannot prove that any of the officers broke the gag order, Samour said he cannot sanction prosecutors for a violation or appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the leak. Instead, he said, the defense will be allowed at trial to “attempt to impeach the credibility of every witness whose testimony was presented at one of those hearings.”

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